Frustration of innovation

I have been thinking a great deal about the future of education: how teachers will adapt, new pedagogies, brick and mortar vs. virtual, and new technologies. It is a frustrating experience because I find myself on the verge of knowing what it should be but not being able to put it all together. I also began a Google + community called InnovateEdu as a forum to get my thoughts out into the education community and get other's ideas to innovate the practice of education.

Over the past two weeks I learned something about being an innovator. I learned that I can be an innovator, generate new ideas, look at old problems and find new solutions but what I can't do is make the change by myself. This is the part of education we, as the global community of educators, fail to realize. This isn't about me being closed off and secluded., but it IS about a collection of people with the same goal in mind working together to achieve a larger goal. The goal is to innovate education or transform it.

Transforming education is easier said than done, a simple truth. The issue isn't that educators don't know what is wrong. The issue is that we are separated by the walls of individualization and the what is mine is mine attitude. So, we end up with "I will do what I do" never creating a systemic change that is needed. Politicians and government have hijacked education because of the United States low test ranking in the world. Suddenly there is something so wrong with how kids learn that people who have no business making education policy and decisions are doing so. Sadly there is little to be done about this because the politicians, though we many contact them, continue to do as they choose. The real issue is that the U.S. is no longer #1 in the world and we have a hard time dealing with that. To transform education means there needs to be a greater collective of cojoined voices creating a seamless plan while getting poor decision maker and leaders out of the way.

The flipped classroom, maker movement, project-based learning, blended learning, student centered learning, hour of code, collaboration, direct instruction, and lecture, there are passionate teacher advocates supporting each of these methods as the best way for kids to learn. I am sure that there are some additional methods or movements that I have not mentioned.Each of these methods to teach can be effective with many groups of students. The burning question should be however, which is the…See More

The flipped classroom, maker movement, project-based learning, blended learning, student centered learning, hour of code, collaboration, direct instruction, and lecture, there are passionate teacher advocates supporting each of these methods as the best way for kids to learn. I am sure that there are some additional methods or movements that I have not mentioned.Each of these methods to teach can be effective with many groups of students. The burning question should be however, which is the…See More